Cllr David Potts, a former Conservative councillor on South Tyneside, has joined UKIP.

He says:

“The Conservative Party is no longer the party I once loved. Modern Tories have sold our country down the river, and seem obsessed with being entirely consumed, both socially and economically, by the European machine.

“I believe David Cameron is a spineless prime minister, and I deeply regret having supported his bid for the party leadership.

“UKIP is the only party talking sense. I know that I can do more as a UKIP politician than I ever could as a Conservative.”

“Nigel Farage MEP, the UKIP leader, has consistently and correctly predicted the economic Armageddon that we face in Europe at the moment. This was not an easy decision to make. I had been a Tory Party member since the age of 14.

The problem is that Cllr Potts thus makes it harder to achieve an overall Conservative majority and thus a more Eurosceptic Government.

Sunday update: Cllr Potts was not a Conservative councillor at the time of his joining UKIP – he was sitting as an independent, having left the Conservatives beforehand.